DEADLY DRIVER: Robert Core (above) yesterday called it “a big relief” that he was convicted only of aggravated DWI in the death of Eddie Cotto.Dennis Clark

Eddie Cotto (left with fiancée Diane Ware).

DEADLY DRIVER: Robert Core (above) yesterday called it “a big relief” that he was convicted only of aggravated DWI in the death of Eddie Cotto (inset, with fiancee Diane Ware). (
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A Long Island peace officer whose blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit when he struck and killed a man with his patrol car was acquitted yesterday of vehicular manslaughter after a judge blamed the victim for drunkenly stumbling into his path on Hempstead Turnpike.

Town of Hempstead Public Safety Officer Robert Core, 43, was convicted of aggravated DWI, in the horrific accident last year that killed Eddie Cotto, 50.

But the maximum one-year penalty is nothing close to the 15 years Core would have faced on the manslaughter charge. The outcome outraged Cotto’s family and friends.

“You kill a man, you should definitely have to do some time,” said Cotto’s fiancée, Diane Ware, 41. “I think it’s disgusting. It’s absolutely wrong.”

But Judge Jerald Carter made no apparent connection between Core’s drunken driving and Cotto’s death, noting that the man unsteadily crossing the dark turnpike against the light had more to drink than the man behind the wheel.

“It’s clear to the court that this is a tragedy that should not have happened,” said Carter, who ruled in place of a jury. “There was no doubt that Mr. Core was operating that motor vehicle while intoxicated.”

But Carter said it was also clear that “Cotto did not obey the traffic laws of the state of New York.”

Core sobbed into his hands after Carter delivered the verdict. The drunken- driving incident has already cost the single father his $70,000-a-year job.

As he left the courtroom, he described the verdict as “a big relief.”

A preliminary intoxication test showed Core had a blood-alcohol content of .17 percent, officials said. The legal limit for driving in New York is .08 percent.